


The Hair That Binds

by Kirkinfleffer



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adoptive Parents - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Attempted Murder, Betrayal, Brotherly Angst, Brotherly Bonding, Child Abuse, Curses, Drabble Collection, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Family Drama, Family Secrets, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, M/M, Mental Instability, Mermaids, Moon Powers Cassandra (Disney: Tangled), Moon Powers Varian (Disney), Multi, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Physical Abuse, Reincarnation, Role Reversal, Sibling Bonding, Witches, fun times
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26681887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirkinfleffer/pseuds/Kirkinfleffer
Summary: A sampling of Tangled AUs I've created mainly centered around Varian. The one that gets the most interest will be pursued as a complete fic! Synopses for each chapter.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Gothel & Rapunzel (Disney), Gothel & Varian (Disney), Gothel/ Quirin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34





	1. At Astronomical Odds

**Author's Note:**

> Varian and Rapunzel have escaped the tower but they're anything but free. They want to live their best lives but their powers attract unwanted attention since the more they try to be themselves the more they risk exposure. Varian is acting out of fear while Rapunzel is acting out of defiance. Varian just wants to settle believing himself to be far away enough from the Dark Kingdom to not have to worry whereas Rapunzel doesn't want to stop chasing the sun having had enough of being stationary. Varian wants rules and structure while Rapunzel wants freedom and spontaneity. Eventually their creative differences drive them apart but fate won't let them stay separated for long. Prince Horace is still alive and he's come back with a vengeance and a few new friends.

Their stroll back from the village was like any other. Bare feet plodding along the path next to ill-fitting boots. Varian was assured he'd grow into them but for as big as they were his strides seemed more confident than his companion's. 

“I wish we could’ve stayed longer,” her voice broke the silence built between them the moment they said their goodbyes.

“I know,” he sighed in turn, “but any longer and-"

“We might be exposed,” she finished for him.

He readjusted his hat with a frown.

He hated how defeated she sounded. Hated how even after their escape they had to hide themselves away; it made him miserable to think after all they’d been put through that ultimately nothing much had changed. They may have left the tower but they were still prisoners none the less.

Varian couldn't focus on the walk ahead finding the scenery only as beautiful as the green eyes gazing in wonderment at it. But her eyes only held a melancholy for it, a look of defeated resignation with each passing tree that brought them further from the village.

“We’ll try to go another time,” he suggested if only to lighten her mood.

“Really?” She lifted her chin up from staring at her feet to meet his gaze. Green eyes lit up and there was that warm glow again that made his heart flutter; she'll never know how much her smile means to him.

“Yeah, I mean today was just to- to scope it out. See if it was safe.”

“And you consider it safe?”

“Safe enough,” he shrugged amicably, “we’ll have to be cautious _but_ I don’t see why we couldn’t try again tomorrow.” He inclined his head towards her.

"So long as we don't stay too late," she gave him an empathetic reminder pointing at his hat, a few loose strands glowing come the impending moonrise.

He gave his forehead a scrutinizing grumble and tucked them back inside and out of sight.

Stupid hat, he couldn't seem to stop scratching at it but it was a necessary evil to hide his hair. Blue wasn't exactly common after all. Though neither was 60 feet of hair trailing behind you but at least it was a natural color. Nobody seemed to be awake for sunrise to notice when Rapunzel's hair ever just glowed.

He sighed dramatically, another great injustice to their powers.

"Maybe I could knit a new one," she laughed under her breath stepping over a root, "wool _is_ kinda scratchy."

"I don't think it's the material," he bemoaned scratching in earnest but like a bad bug-bite it only seemed to make it worse. "Remind me why I can't just shave it off again?"

"Because it always grows back?" She reminded him. "No point if it all sprouts back blue any way. Plus, you have a lumpy head." She added.

He rolled his eyes at the memory.

They had tried to shave it off before back when they thought that might help him; it stood to reason that if Rapunzel's hair lost its magic once cut then so would his. But when just the dead ends didn't cut it he'd opted to shave it all off as close to the wick as humanly possible just as much for scientific intrigue as he was just curious. Sadly, the experiment was for naught, he could still use his powers just fine plus he looked utterly ridiculous for a few months.

Back then he wasn't so upset to be wearing a cap.

As if on cue he looked to Rapunzel's trailing hair almost guiltily, the tie at the end coming loose and spilling golden locks every subsequent step.

She'd kept it when he knew she didn't have to. Rapunzel had as close to an answer to her powers as she could get. She could stop them at any time. Be _normal_ any time she wanted and yet she remained by his side. Logically, he knew it was just too risky to lose it. They were still on the run at the time: they had no plans and no idea where they were even headed apart from _away._ And even in their desire to escape their destinies realized healing hair _would_ come in handy along a perilous journey should they come into trouble. Should another Prince Horace try to stab one of them again. He also knew, for that same reason, it was in part due to his vague warnings about a cataclysmic event should the balance be disturbed. Whisperings he'd picked up on within the Dark Kingdom and had no reason to think were unsubstantiated. Why would he? Both of them after all were in the unenviable position where their enemies knew more about them than they themselves did.

He sighed.

Rapunzel had a good heart, she wouldn't want to risk the end of the world and as she'd told him before, 'We figure this out together or not at all.' It was comforting but also naive of her. Now they were living in relative safety, now they weren't in the position where they didn't know where their next meal would come from or where they'd sleep for the night. They finally had stability. Income. She had no real reason to stay anymore. And during times like these where he would pull her away from a village for no other reason than due to the threat her hair posed to her safety he couldn't help but worry she might regret her decision but was just too nice to say anything about it. Sometimes he felt as though he were the only thing holding her back from true happiness...

"Don't worry," she cut through the mire that had consumed his thoughts with only a mild look of alarm from her companion, "you can take off your hat soon enough, we're almost home." She reassured with a smile, green eyes shining with sympathy in the rising moonlight.

Varian exhaled the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Y-yeah, my hat," he thanked God for her assumption.

He wasn't about to correct her.

The night was in full swing now his hair glowing an obscured blue in earnest.

As it often happened during their chats, when her gait picked up his inevitably fell behind left stumbling in a darkness he should be better accustomed to.

He blamed the boots.

And they walked back the rest of the way home in silence following the stars.


	2. Height of a Tower, Lengths of a Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sampling of Tangled AUs I've created mainly centered around Varian. The one that gets the most interest will be pursued as a complete fic! Synopses for each chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> His father had been happily married to Gothel for a decade now and while he loves his step-mother dearly he can't help but notice her odd hours. That coupled with her rather flirtatious nature in general and a key he's never seen before paints a picture he doesn't want to believe. His father had been so depressed for so long after his mother's death, Varian won't allow his father's heart to be broken like this and determines to uncover the truth in attempts to save their marriage and follows her into the forest. But after what he finds in the tower he can only wish it were mere infidelity.  
> \---  
> She should've been more careful but now that Varian has seen everything she can't risk him ruining all her hard work, destroying the life she'd built. Varian should've never followed her. She should've never been so careless. Mistakes were made on both sides but only Gothel has blood on her hands.

Trust was a flimsy thing he often thought as he ducked behind the nearest tree. It was such a fragile thing between people, something only to be strengthened over time but to never be 100% infallible no matter how close you were. There was always room for doubt, the question is what you chose to do with it. And considering the fact he was intermittently hiding behind fauna three guesses as to what he was doing with his.

There was a sour taste in his mouth, bark biting into his back.

This was not his first choice. He'd tried to ignore it, tried to have faith in her and forget about it but it wasn't just his heart on the line here, his father would be crushed if his suspicions were true.

Varian didn't want to think ill of his step mother but a childhood worth of watching her flirtations left an uncomfortable knot where his stomach ought to be. It would explain _so much_ and was so very plausible it hurt to think of. He truly wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and convince himself he was just being silly, that she was doing exactly as she claimed to be, but he'd never been one to take things at face value. The only way he could get past this was if he disproved it himself.

He sighed, that didn’t make what he was doing right though.

The back of his head hit the tree trunk defeatedly. 

God, and if he was found out? He could only imagine the reaming she’d give him. But better he be doing this than his father. If his father was caught following her it could mean the end of their marriage. 

_If my theory is correct it could mean the end of their marriage..._

__

He took a deep breath schooling himself. He could do this. His family depended upon it.

__

His father was a strong man but not _that_ strong, he doesn’t think he could take a rejection like that, not after losing his mother. It had been so long ago but he still remembers the countless days he spent curled up in bed facing the wall or the days spent sitting in his chair staring at the family portrait on end neglecting the farm and the house. And him... The awful days when he couldn’t even bring himself to look at him without bursting into tears, crying over how he had her eyes, 'God, why does he have her eyes?!' before passing out due to self-pity and liquor. They never spoke of those times. His father had dove head first into his relationship with his step mother to take the time to talk about what happened. He probably thought, hoped, he'd never need to, that he had been too young to retain any of it but he remembered all too vividly. He _never_ wanted to see his father that vulnerable again, so if that meant being the bad guy, —he peered around the brush quickly, eyes trailing after the cloak that belonged to no other than Gothel, sprinting to his next hiding spot— then he’ll be the bad guy.

__


End file.
